Anne Boleyn

Anne was born in 1500 or 1501. She was considered
beautiful with dark eyes, long dark hair and a lively personality. At the age of
13 she worked in the French court. Here she worked for Mary, Henry VIII’s
sister, who had married the king of France. When the king, Louis, died, Mary
returned to England. Anne stayed in France as maid-in-honour to the new queen.

Such an upbringing for a young girl from a noble English
family was not unusual. It was felt that young girls would have the perfect
education in France on how to become a ‘proper’ lady, which would, in turn,
lead to her finding the ‘right’ man for marriage.

In 1522, aged 21 or 22, Anne returned to England and
worked for Catherine of Aragon’s household. Anne fell for a young man who
worked at the court called Henry Percy. She became secretly engaged to Percy –
who was already engaged to someone else. The engagement was ended after an
intervention by both Henry and Cardinal
Wolsey, England's most important government minister. Anne never forgave Wolsey for
his involvement in the break-up nor for calling her a "foolish girl".
Percy was forbidden from ever seeing Anne again. Anne was banned from the Royal
Court until 1524/25. However, she had already caught the eye of Henry who openly
wanted her to be his mistress – something she refused to do.

Henry embarked on his plan to divorce Catherine and marry
Anne. This proved to be successful when they married in the winter of 1533.

Anne was crowned queen in June 1533. She gave birth to the
future Queen Elizabeth and also to a stillborn boy. Henry and Anne swiftly fell
out. He believed that she had been cursed and his ‘proof’ was the second
thumb Anne had growing out of her main one. There were even rumours that she had
a third breast. Anne, now in her early 30’s, had a
sharp tongue on her and had made enemies at court. Henry had already befriended
one of her maids of honour – Jane Seymour.

In May 1536, Anne was arrested and charged with treason.
Anne was held in the Tower of London. The Constable of the Tower was William
Kingston. He had four ladies stay with Anne at all times and they had to report
directly to him anything said by the queen. Kingston's diary does tell us that
Anne was hysterical when she arrived at the Tower through Traitor's Gate and had
to be half-carried to her quarters.

Her actual ‘crime’ was that she had affairs with 5 men including her brother
George. There was no proof of this but all six were found guilty of treason and
sentenced to death. In fact, Anne was unaware of what charges she faced until
she actually arrived in the hall at the Tower of London where her trial was to
take place. Her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, had to read out the court's finding: guilty of adultery
and plotting to kill Henry. The court sentenced her to be burned at the stake or
decapitated - the choice lay with Henry.

It is said that while in the Tower, Anne wrote a poem
about her impending execution:

"Oh Death
Rock me asleep
Bring on my quiet rest
Let pass my very guiltless ghost
Out of my careful breast
Ring out the doleful knell
Let it sound
My death tell
For I must die."

However, there is no proof that Anne wrote
this poem and it is almost certain that Kingston would have had some knowledge
of it as Anne was constantly watched by her female 'guards'.

Anne was executed on May 19th 1536. As a final
gesture, Henry gave his permission for Anne to be beheaded by a sword. She was
terrified of the axe. Two specialists were brought over from France as no one
existed in England who had the necessary skill to carry out the execution cleanly. Her execution
was swift and her body was laid to rest in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula at the Tower
of London.

Henry married his third wife, Jane
Seymour, on May 30th,
1536, just eleven days after the execution of Anne.